Good Things Come to Those Who Wait, Presented by Wahl

I’m so impatient they could rename instant gratification to Rebecca’s desires. It’s difficult to explain why I’m so terribly impatient, but I know it has to do with will power. Mind over matter, right? If I work hard enough, I should be able to get what I want quicker. If I work fast enough, I’ll have it as soon as I can. Never does it register in my mind that this isn’t how things work. I only recognize it, after the fact.

Patience is something often outside my grip. I can feel it when I reach my hands out far enough, but I think perhaps it’s liquid. Because it falls through my fingers each time. Regardless of how fast I try to catch it in my palms, it’s gone before I can do so. I think, maybe I wasn’t fast enough. Maybe next time.

Next time rolls around, and I’m still not ready to wait. I feel patience trying to hold my hand, but when I close it fast enough to interlock our fingers. Again, I feel patience slip through my fingers as though it were water.

And now I think I am going about this all wrong. Some time has passed since I tried to hold hands with patience changing my perspective. I’ve had time to think on it.

The opposite of patience in definition is wrath, right? Every time I lose sight of my long term goals, I get frustrated with my daily life. I’m not doing enough, I’m not working hard enough, I’m not trying. I become a slave to myself, which is to say I cannot see past my immediate limitations. They feel like they’ll go on forever. And ever. It gets tiresome! I return to the place I was before, wishing I was patient enough to see the purpose behind the things I do.

For the first time, I wait for patience with an open hand. Fingers outstretched, palm up, waiting. I haven’t ever extended my hand like that before, to wait for patience. I know now it isn’t something I can trap in my hands. It isn’t something I’ll be able to grab out of thin air.

Instead, my palm will be open, my fingers outstretched so when patience comes, I can gently intertwine my fingers and allow myself to be soothed by promises of what I want down the road. Holding hands with patience will help me to find a sense of peaceful stability while I wait and work for what I want. Patience will remind me that harmony is more important than conflict; conflict might help a person grow, but it becomes a limitation when you fight yourself.

Waiting might seem unbearable, but if you hold hands with patience the wait will become bearable. All good things come to those who wait.